How to Make It

1. To felt the wool, place wool fabric in a washing machine (a top-loading machine is recommended). Fill the machine with hot water. Agitate the fabric on the longest cycle and rinse with cold water. Place wool in the dryer for 30 minutes on regular heat.

3. On a double layer of the ecru fabric, trace and cut out the pumpkin pillow shape (the outer edge of the pattern). Cut a vertical slit in the center of the pillow front for turning. With the right sides facing and using a 1/4-inch seam allowance, sew the front piece to the back piece. Turn right side out and stuff with fiberfill. Whipstitch the opening closed. Set aside.

4. Position the freezer paper, shiny side down, over the patterns. Trace the patterns for the stem, crows, star, and pumpkin center. Cut out the shapes on the traced lines.

5. Using an iron, press a freezer-paper shape, shiny side down, onto the front of its respective fabric (orange for the pumpkin center, black for the crows, yellow for the star, and green for the stem.) Cut out the shapes along the pattern edges and peel off the freezer paper.

6. Cut a 2-1/2x14-inch strip and a 9-inch square from the green wool. Set the strip aside. Cut enough 1/4-inch-wide strips from the wool square for the lettering.

7. Referring to the photo, whipstitch around each crow with black perle cotton. Pin the star to the left crow and whipstitch in place with the black perle cotton.

8. Referring to the top photo, pin the lettering to the orange pumpkin center. Whipstitch around each letter with green perle cotton.

9. Couch-stitch a length of linen thread from the beak of one crow to the beak of the other, making loops as desired; leave a short length of thread loose at each end.

10. Pin the pumpkin stem to the pillow. Whipstitch in place with black perle cotton.

11. Pin the appliqued orange pumpkin center to the pillow. Whipstitch around it with black perle cotton.

12. Cut a zigzag border along one long edge of the 2-1/2x14-inch rectangle of green wool. Make a running stitch along the straight edge and gather it to fit around the pumpkin stem. Tie off and tack in a few places with hidden stitches around the pumpkin stem.